Arts center renovation proposal faces hurdles

EL CAJON  Doubts are being raised over a consultant’s proposal to spend $4.3 million to renovate the troubled East County Performing Arts Center and bring star attractions that would reduce the city’s cost for operating the theater.

At a workshop Tuesday, El Cajon City Councilman Gary Kendrick said the city’s budget is too strapped to spend millions of dollars to repair the theater and subsidize its operating costs each year. Kendrick said he would consider keeping the center closed until the economy improves.

“I have to put police on the street before I put Glen Campbell on the stage,” Kendrick said.

The proposal on the future of the performing arts center was presented to the council by consultant Kurt Swanson.

The 1,145-seat theater essentially has been closed since December, and the city dismissed the group that managed it. El Cajon officials are weighing the fate of the arts center, which has lost money since it opened in 1977.

After the city took over operation of the theater in 1996, it has required an average subsidy of $403,000 a year.

“The facility has not maximized its potential as a regional attraction,” Swanson said.

Swanson recommended repairs that include replacing the roof, adding a new entrance on Main Street, and upgrades to make the center more accessible to the disabled.

He said the center should be run more as a business and headline performers should be brought there, such as singer Kenny Loggins, the band America or the Smothers Brothers comedy duo.

“The key to the whole thing is putting on shows that people care about,” Swanson said.

Putting on 48 shows a year would gross almost $2.38 million a year for the city, balanced against annual operating costs of more than $2.4 million annually, Swanson said.

Councilman Bill Wells said he was most concerned about the cost to renovate the center.

“This may not be the time when the city can make large outlays of capital,” Wells said. “I’m going to look at it with a pretty skeptical eye.”

Mayor Mark Lewis said he had concerns about the proposal, but said a renovated theater would bring in people to see top-quality shows.

“People are willing to pay the money to come see the people they want to see,” Lewis said.